Another Birthday Song

Well, we all love to sing “Happy Birthday to You,” don’t we? (Don’t we?) I know I’ve sung more “Happy Birthdays” at the drop of a hat than you can shake a stick at, if that’s your idea of good time (and if your hat can take it).

But Warner/Chappell Music doesn’t like it so much when we sing along, less’n they can get a cut of that copyright cake. The music publishing company is famously aggressive in seeking royalties anytime that the song is used in a movie, a TV show, on the radio, on record, or in public performance among strangers — think restaurants. (If you’re looking for something to do this evening, you could do worse than to make a quick read of Robert Brauneis’s 69-page law review article on the subject, “Copyright and the World’s Most Popular Song,” published on October 14, 2010 as GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 392, 56 Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. 335 (2009). You can download it for free!)

A lawsuit currently in progress is challenging the publishing company’s ownership claims to the song. In fact, the plaintiffs are seeking to have the suit certified as a class action, arguing that millions of dollars over the years have wrongfully been lining the pockets of those claiming rights to a piece of music/lyrics that is “neither copyrighted nor copyrightable.”

But while we wait, you can listen above to another birthday song, titled: “Another Birthday Song.” It’s a freshly-minted concoction of pure Viperific confection, best listened to in the wee small hours of the morning. And it’s available to learn and sing — sez me — to anyone, at anytime, for any purpose, royalty-free and with no expectation of compensation other than the knowing that I’ve played a part in burning someone’s midnight birthday candles just a little brighter.

If you’re having trouble learning it by ear from the mp3 scratch track above, you can also find a PDF of the lyrics/chord sheet right here: Another Birthday Song (PDF)

From an obscure folder I just found on my hard drive called “2010 – Birthday for Cats.” Not sure why, since none of the photos feature anything that would suggest a party or anything else celebrating le bon anniversaire des these chats.